The two touch buttons on either side of the home button are a traditional back button and a multitasking button, which replaces the menu button.

Pressing the multitasking button brings up a grid of recently used apps for quick switching among tasks.New featuresUnlike the iPhone 5S and HTC One M8, the Galaxy S5 has a plastic rear cover. Some on the Internet have called it cheap-looking, but it serves two purposes.

It allows for a removable battery, and its built-in gasket helps the S5 attain IP67 status, which means dust- and water-resistant.

The S5 can survive a dunk in 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes.

I couldn’t resist giving my test phone a good dunking, and it came through entirely unscathed.

Water resistance, to me, is the killer feature. You never think you’re going to drop your phone into the pool or the toilet or a puddle, but it happens.

The rear of the phone sports a few new features, like a heart rate sensor that works with Samsung’s S Health app, and the rear camera has a 16-megapixel sensor. The camera has a new HDR (high dynamic range) mode with a live preview, selective focus (which lets you choose a focus point after shooting) and all-around faster autofocus.

The S5 can use its 4G LTE and Wi-Fi radios at the same time to speed up file downloads. It also uses 802.11ac and MIMO (multi-input, multi-output) to utilize two Wi-Fi antennas to increase throughput speeds.

The home button conceals a fingerprint scanner to unlock the phone or even help secure PayPal payments. But unlike the iPhone, it requires you to press a button to wake the S5 before you can scan your fingerprint.

Also new is Ultra Power Saving Mode, which you can turn on when battery power is dangerously low.

The mode changes the screen to black and white and turns off or changes many of the phones features to “dramatically minimize battery consumption.”

A new “Kids” mode allows the user to flag apps as “kid-friendly” and keeps your apps and data safe, so you don’t have to worry about handing off the S5 to your toddlers when you need to keep them quiet while you’re out to dinner.

The S5 also has a “Private” mode that allows the user to lock certain content (files, photos, videos) from others by protecting it with a PIN or fingerprint.

An IR blaster on top means the S5 can be programmed to control just about any device that has a remote control.

Samsung offers its own Flipboard-like aggregator of information and a news reader called MyMagazine that is accessed by swiping from left to right on the home screen.ConclusionI like the S5 as a day-to-day phone. It’s the right size, has almost every feature I could want, including a first-rate screen (that even works with gloves), and it’s priced right. I’m not sure the heart rate monitor and fingerprint sensor are enough of a reason to upgrade if you already have a Galaxy S4, but if your contract is up, the S5 is a solid choice.

The S5 costs $199 with a two-year contract and $649 with no contract at AT&T. Other carriers are pricing similarly, although Verizon is running a buy-one, get-one offer for $199 if both phones are on new two-year contracts. Target is offering an S5 for $99 if you trade in a qualifying smartphone and sign a new two-year contract.